Bryan Merryweather

Name: Bryan Merryweather

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: 12

School: George Hunter High School

Hobbies and Interests: Exercise and fitness regimes, GSA, helping out at home, nature and nature drawing

Appearance: Bryan works out and it shows, carrying 173 lbs of muscle on a 5'9" frame. His shoulders are broad, arms and backs toned and abdomen, should it be exposed, rock hard. His hair is sandy blonde and is kept short at the back and sides, though allowed a little more reign to grow out in messy waves on top. His ethnicity is Caucasian and his skin quite pale, as he burns easily and counteracts that with plenty of sunscreen whenever he goes out in the sun. Bryan's complexion in general is okay, but he breaks out in acne semi-regularly and always has to wait it out. His features are broad and well defined, thick in the jaw, strong chinned, high and pronounced cheekbones, and a wide-bridged nose. His eyes are dark blue.

Bryan's school attire depends entirely on whether he has some kind of activity planned for later in the day. On rest days, he tends towards smart-casual, wearing short-sleeve shirts and slacks with plain brown shoes. On exercise days, he opts for tracksuits, usually over a-shirts and shorts, along with sports sneakers. Outside of school he trends towards the more casual, usually sticking with the a-shirts, three-quarter length shorts and sneakers.

During the abduction, Bryan was wearing a green George Hunter athletic jacket over a white a-shirt, three-quarter length jorts, and running shoes.

Biography: Bryan is the eldest of four to Miranda and Steven, an assistant librarian and a sous chef. Both sides of the family have lived in Tennessee for generations, and a large part of the extended family unit resides in and around Chattanooga. Bryan was born when Miranda and Steven were relatively young, freshly married and barely into their twenties, and younger brother Otis came along just two years later. Much of Bryan's early childhood was spent shuttled between family babysitters as his parents attempted to balance their children and their careers. Bryan never felt as if he didn't see his parents enough, and in fact enjoyed meeting and spending time with his various cousins and aunts and uncles, most of whom he remains very close with even today. By the time he was old enough that it might have started to affect him negatively, his parents had managed to get themselves into a place where they could, since Bryan and Otis had started school, successfully stick to a relatively normal schedule.

However, no sooner had they reached this stability than they had another two children in two years, Eric and Charlotte, promptly stretching the family's resources all over again. Nine-year-old Bryan showed a lot of maturity by taking responsibility for his younger siblings, at least to the extent that a child could do so. This was in no small part due to his delight at being the big brother, wanting to be the same cool older figure to his brothers that his cousins had always been to him, only reinforced when Charlotte was born. With assistance from the extended family and now the quickly-maturing Bryan, the Merryweather household remained a chaotic but happy one, developing into a tightknit unit. Financially there were always some challenges, with not a lot of spare money to go around, meaning Bryan grew up learning not to waste and to make his possessions last, handing them down when he had grown out of them.

Bryan, well-socialised by all of his various babysitters, was a gregarious and likeable kid in primary school, always happy to make new friends and speak to more or less anyone. For a time he struggled with boundaries, not always realising that not everyone was as open and willing to talk as him. However, with some advice to his parents from teachers, this was passed on to him, and Bryan developed more willingness to take socialising at other people's paces. Scholastically, Bryan's grades were middling, as he didn't particularly excel at anything but always tried hard and put in a lot of effort into classes and homework. This won him praise from his teachers, albeit with the slight criticism that he did tend to get distracted by chatting every so often.

At around ten years old, Bryan started to pester his father to come along on his traditional early morning jogs, since he wanted to spend more time with him. Steven humoured Bryan, taking him out on shorter jogs a couple of times a week. Bryan was very enthusiastic about this, although not particularly fit. However, over the next couple of years it became their tradition, especially on weekends, and as Bryan hit puberty and started growing, he became much more used to running and the stamina and techniques involved, to the point he began to go out with his dad on longer and longer runs. Soon enough, Bryan was coming up with routes of his own and heading out for jogs after school, and it was from there that he started looking into fitness and athletics some more. Since he didn't enjoy most sports and didn't think he'd have the time or money to commit to those that he was mildly interested in, Bryan instead focused on fitness regimes and routines that he could do at home. For his sixteenth birthday, Bryan's parents gave him the prized gift of a gym membership, something which he has maintained since by taking a couple of different part time and summer jobs and where he spends much of his free time. Amongst the gym crowd, Bryan is known as the guy who is always happy to give advice on new exercise regimes and nutritional information.

Bryan was always interested in nature and animals as a child, mostly because one of his favourite older cousins had a veritable menagerie of pets, including several dogs and cats and a snake. Often, he would come home from their place with a fistful of drawings of all the different animals, which he spent a lot of time with and grew to love like crazy. Since his parents categorically ruled out ever getting animals, Bryan had to content himself with looking at pictures in books and later online. However, on his own frequent runs out and about, Bryan grew to realise that there was also plenty of nature around where he lived if he looked carefully and patiently enough. Often, Bryan would head out for a run, spend some time birdwatching or bug hunting with a sketchbook, and then run back home again for a very pleasant way of spending an afternoon. Bryan has since developed a habit of sketching just about any animal he sees if he has the time and the opportunity, and his old school exercise books invariably wind up with collages of bugs drawn all the way across his school notes.

When Bryan was fourteen, Otis came out to him as gay. Although taken aback, Bryan threw himself wholeheartedly into supporting his brother, looking up resources for him and six months down the line, standing by him when he came out to the rest of the family. Fortunately, this went well, but Bryan didn't stop there, continuing to research various LGBT related topics for Otis's sake. As a result, Bryan came across ideas of allyhood and through it, privilege, though it was another couple of years before he fully started to grasp how privilege worked. Even so, when Otis asked him to accompany him to a George Hunter Gay Straight Alliance meeting, Bryan went even further than that and joined the society himself. Four years later, Bryan boasts a near-perfect attendance record, and even goes along now and then when Otis can't make it. Although comfortable in his own heterosexuality, some of the difficulties Otis has experienced and those he has heard about through the GSA have led Bryan to be highly conscious of LGBT issues and to a lesser extent those of race, colour and gender. He tries to be as aware as possible when it comes to discrimination and prejudices and tries extremely hard to eradicate those that he has had ingrained into him inadvertently. Over the past couple of years especially, Bryan has taken conscious effort to call out that kind of behaviour in his peers whenever possible, although he tries not to make a scene about it. He has no tolerance for bullying of any form, and has wound up in trouble a handful for times for interfering and being seen to escalate situations by stepping in. He steadfastly refuses to make any such confrontation physical, and will never throw a punch, even if provoked, as he feels that violence is never likely to solve any kind of dispute. Although there is some appreciation for this amongst the student body, others view him as frustrating and condescending, butting in where he isn't wanted.

Bryan remains something of a deputy parent at home, having been treated as the responsible one for some years now extending back into his mid-teens. This is especially prominent with Eric and Charlotte, given the large age gap, and Bryan is often the one left in charge of taking care of them if his parents are at work or otherwise unavailable. Bryan will drop anything at a moment's notice for his family, though never without sincere apologies to his friends or other commitments he may have made; he tends to be scrupulously organised as a result and make no plans for any time that might possibly clash with familial responsibilities. He is closest with Otis, but remains enamoured with being the big brother, and gets along with Eric and Charlotte well, apart from when it falls to him to be the one disciplining them. His relationship with his parents is also extremely good, and they are never anything less than very grateful for his assistance with his siblings.

At George Hunter, Bryan is generally well-liked, although some people are worn out by how relentlessly nice he is to everyone. Still, mild-mannered and good humoured, it's difficult to remain at odds for Bryan for too long, if only because he refuses to be drawn on most arguments. However, his tendencies to intervene in situations where there is targeted aggression or bullying are divisive, and not always appreciated by either side of an engagement. As a student, Bryan is still very average and doesn't really stand out from the crowd in any subjects, with the sole exception of his sports science elective, mostly due to his breadth of outside knowledge. Bryan does work diligently in all of them, but lacks the spare time to devote to properly eradicate his weaknesses. After graduation, Bryan is weighing up going into a career in personal training, fitness, or trying to get involved in professional sports as a sports scientist, although he worries that not going to college for a degree--which simply isn't financially feasible--will hold him back.

Advantages: It's common knowledge that Bryan wouldn't hurt a fly, which is likely to engender trust from others he meets. He is also likable, well-known, and extremely level-headed, all of which would help contribute to forming potential alliances and diffusing tense situations. Furthermore, his history of standing up for others and willingness to engage in confrontations even when he doesn't need to may well be the difference maker allowing him to earn the benefit of the doubt. Bryan is in awesome physical condition thanks to all of his time spent in the gym and jogging, and he has a great amount of stamina, combined with no small amount of physical strength. Disadvantages: It's common knowledge that Bryan wouldn't hurt a fly; not only is he unwilling to raise a hand to another person, most of his peers are well aware that Bryan refuses to fight, which could easily be exploited. Indeed, his relatively guileless nature and idealism could put him into a vulnerable situation when faced with those with bad intentions towards him. In addition, not everyone appreciates Bryan's tendency to interfere, whether that be those who have had their fun spoiled, or unappreciative victims feeling that he has some kind of saviour complex. Bryan's inability to stand by and let others be hurt could be of severe danger to him in the Survival of the Fittest scenario, especially when combined with his pacifistic approach to solving confrontations.

Designated Number: Male student No. 080

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Designated Weapon: M1 Garand (rifle)

Conclusion: I'm very happy for you, B080, that you wouldn't so much as hurt a fly. But the flies on the island will not be trying to kill you: your fellow classmates will be. If you can't put your useless idealism aside, then this will be a very short game for you. On the plus side, you won't be suffering long, and your respectable weapon can be put in the hands of somebody who will actually use it. - Jim Greynolds

'The above biography is as written by Namira. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Namira

Kills: 

Killed By: Claudeson Bademosi

Collected Weapons: M1 Garand (assigned weapon, to Bret Carter)

Allies: Ashlynn Martinek

Enemies: Bret Carter, Wyatt Carter

Mid-game Evaluation: 

Post-Game Evaluation: 

Memorable Quotes:

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Bryan, in chronological order.

V7:
 * Time to Play the Game
 * Glass Shatters
 * Assignment to Catastrophe
 * Setbacks
 * Valediction

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Bryan Merryweather. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * Bryan was cool. A lot of the time, if a character has no Pregame, it's difficult to establish them quickly and cleanly in-game without leaning too hard on a few core traits. Bryan certainly had a strong center to build around—his moral convictions and anti-bullying sensibility—but it's both justified as a central aspect of his character and challenged in interesting ways.

From his very first words, Bryan tries to be a force of good in the game, but he also discovers a little catch: if you're known as a pacifist, and you're not overly willing to budge on that point even when your life is literally on the line, it becomes difficult to effectively intervene when faced with others who lack those compunctions. This is a great theme to play off of, and it gets some good mileage especially when Bryan tussles with Bret. That said, I have some mixed feelings about how it plays with the second scene Bryan shares with the Carters, because in theory this is actually a wonderful point of comparison between the two, and could easily become more apparent rather than less. Bryan wants to help people but won't get too violent on his way, while Bret wants to scramble for survival but has realized that his reputation will make that incredibly difficult if he starts racking up a body count, and has dragged his brother reluctantly along. This leaves Bryan's attempt to follow and inconvenience the Carters a plot line with a ton of potential for both sides as more of a battle of wits, but unfortunately it's cut short instead with threats of more physical violence that is generally less effective than what we've already seen.

This leads into a somewhat messy thread I've discussed with two other recent deaths and will again with the next. It's a thread that starts with greetings as Bryan meets a group, then immediately sees more characters join so replays the greetings, then everyone gets rolled and has to go. Bryan's voice is on point here, but in hindsight I wish he'd gotten to just have the thread with Ashlynn and Stepney, especially as the former is key to the final stage of his story, and a lot of that is recapped in a pair of one-shots. But what a final stage it is! Ashlynn and Bryan decide to double down and try to bring the game to a close by gathering like-minded individuals and using force of numbers, splitting up to make signs and markers. Bryan then meets Claudeson, who is an excellent character to play off because he in theory agrees with all the ideals Bryan stands for, but takes that same input and reaches a markedly different conclusion. The beat here, as he kills Bryan, is tragic and abrupt in no small part because it comes from a place of twisted compassion.

Bryan plays an archetype I love, and well. He's the hero, the guy who is going to try to stop the game without being corrupted by it, fully willing to make the hard decisions even at personal cost. This almost inevitably leads to a tragic moment where ideals are pitted against survival and a bittersweet decision is reached, but Bryan subverts this wonderfully while still getting the best parts of it thematically. His story is neat, and while sometimes his threads are cluttered, his character is drawn extremely well and stays true to himself throughout, and his death is both a great sendoff and a highlight for his killer. - MurderWeasel